Braunton Library project connects resettled Afghan families with countryside and community

Libraries Unlimited partnership with arts charity Honeyscribe chosen for  European recognition 

A North Devon-based project led by Honeyscribe in association with Libraries Unlimited is helping resettled Afghan families connect with their local community.

‘The Gatherers’ has been running at Braunton Library and Braunton Countryside Centre throughout 2024. The project is a partnership between arts charity Honeyscribe and Libraries Unlimited, the charity that runs libraries in Devon.  

‘The Gatherers’ invites people from all parts of the community to collect flowers from their gardens, allotments and hedgerows – but has specifically reached out to the families from Afghanistan to get them involved.  

Eighteen Afghan families who worked with British Forces during the Afghan war, and who cannot return to their country, have been relocated to Braunton through the Afghan Resettlement Assistance Policy (ARAP) and are now living in the former RAF Chivenor. 

The families have been encouraged to join wellbeing walks organised by Live Well Braunton along with local residents to explore the rural community, collecting flowers as they go. Everyone is then invited into the library to press the gathered flowers using old library books. The Afghan women have then made the pressed flowers into beautiful bookmarks which are distributed as unexpected gifts tucked into books that go out on loan from the library. 

The project has been chosen by the European Cultural Foundation as one of 50 from 24 countries as partners for The Europe Challenge 2024 which is funded by the funded by The European Cultural Foundation and Arts Council England. This annual programme brings together teams from libraries and communities to address social isolation, inequality, disinformation, climate crisis, and other local challenges. 

Artist and founder of Honeyscribe, Amy Shelton designed and led ‘The Gatherers’ project. Honeyscribe is a Devon based arts charity which delivers bespoke art projects focusing on the natural world, human health and environmental wellbeing. Working with the Pickwell Foundation, she visited the Afghan families in their homes and showed them how to press the flowers and introduced the project. Volunteers and staff from the Pickwell Foundation supported the women to attend the sessions with transport and interpreters.  

Amy said: “The Gatherers celebrates the importance of the natural world to support mental health and wellbeing by connecting people with the place they live. Braunton is a part of the North Devon UNESCO Biosphere and hosts one of the most celebrated biodiverse botanical habitats. We wanted to enable the Afghan families to deeply engage with the rich cultural heritage of their new home as well as to introduce the libraries as the welcoming democratic spaces that they are, so we ran the first phase of the art workshops at Braunton Library. It was valuable time for them to spend together with each other and feel part of a wider community. The bookmarks they produced from the pressed flowers collected across Braunton were absolutely beautiful.” 

In July the project was extended with a week-long creative summer holiday project, hosted at Braunton Countryside Centre for a week of creative workshops.  

‘The Gatherers’ is part of a series of events being rolled out by Libraries Unlimited with the help of money from Arts Council England (ACE). North Devon was identified as one of ACE’s Priority Places to bring more cultural activity and engagement to the area. 

Braunton Library supervisor Sarah Bushell said: “‘The Gatherers’ has amplified the role of libraries as crucial public spaces for democratic participation and social and environmental wellbeing. It’s also enabled us to become part of a unique network of European libraries working together to promote the wellbeing of our communities. Our staff meet many customers every day who feel isolated and lonely, and projects like these can really have an impact. Libraries bring people and connect communities as places of advice, signposting, and companionship. We’re so pleased all this has been recognised by the European Cultural Foundation, and grateful to the Pickwell Foundation and Braunton Countryside Centre for all their support.”